Self Improvement Program - Essay Example

Task Self Improvement Program and number submitted Task Self Improvement Program a. Introduction The Hospitality and Tourism industry is a very large industry in truth; the size of the industry is immeasurable (Riley 1996) in truth as it includes a lot of small businesses and bread-earners that do not get considered in estimation of the size of the industry. Choosing a career is not an easy job and yes, I did my research before deciding that Hospitality, being one of the ever-green fields that it is business-wise, was the one I wanted to graduate in. Hence I did my bachelors in a management degree and ended up searching for a career path, much the same way I searched for the appropriate field of study. Thankfully my research and academic proficiency led me to applying in Marriot International among other companies for a management trainee post and getting a positive response from the company. Marriot International is the third largest chain of hotels in the world by employees and revenues but what struck me most about the company was that it consistently got selected as one of the five most ethical companies in an annual review carried out by a rating and analysis firm. The company is based in the United States but has a large setup in the United Kingdom and offers a management trainee program or as the company calls it, a leadership development program, in 30 countries of the world. I got selected in this program that goes by the name of Voyage and conveyed my consent for joining appropriately quickly. Now I am an inductee into the program in its UK chapter and it is early days for me as a trainee of event management, a field of profession I chose to enter after long and careful deliberation. I think that the most prominent feature of event management that is not as important in other types of management is time management which I think is one of the best qualities a person can possess. Also if an event and the planning leading up to it are considered a complete project, I shall get more experience of handling whole projects than I would have gotten in any other field of corporate management. Finally, I have taken this route because I would like to permanently leave the status of employee one day and establish my own company in the event management business. b. Identification of Skills The first skill that I think I will be requiring to acquire to progress on this career path is keeping my fitness level high. By fitness I do also mean personal health care as well. I have honestly concluded from what I have come to know so far about the job of event management for large companies that it is a tenuous job; it is both physically and mentally demanding and requires more travel and physical movement than people would associate with a corporate position. The second skill I will surely need to improve upon is English language proficiency or proficiency in the local language of the area I will be posted to after the conclusion of the trainee program. This is also important because handling logistics for an event requires being able to effectively communicate with the locals who might be providing services such as seating arrangement etc for the event. Then there is the skill of effective planning which is important in many fields of work, no less in event management; in fact there is the added burden of shorter time space for the planning of an event compared to that for other projects. Planning is the base or foundation of every project and if the plan is shaky the project is very susceptible to falling. After planning for a project, you usually have to organize the staff and resources and other aspects of the project in a management position. Organizing is a universal requirement of management jobs and mastery of a basic efficient way of going about organizing the different elements of a project can help a person pursue a career in management in any industry he chooses if he is able to prove his organizational skills to the recruiter. As mentioned while emphasizing the importance of planning, time management is a crucial aspect of event management. And this does not just relate to the management of the time spent in planning and coordinating an event. Time management also matters in the hiring and training of staff, in analysis and review of various aspects of management and in dealing with unrelated issues such as legal matters and employee morale upkeep etc. After all this description is about the skills required for my own career progress and not just those that are needed to take my company forward. In this regard it is pertinent to mention that the ability to develop useful relationships with executives and employees at important positions, also known as public/personal relations or PR skills, is of paramount importance to career success. PR in the other sense, of being able to coordinate effectively and influence personnel in government and corporate positions of other organizations (Heath 1980), would come in as the seventh most important skill in my view. However, as it is, forming Personal Relations is a critical skill, perhaps the most important one if the goal of a person is unidirectional, in progressing towards higher posts in your field of profession. c. Relevance of Chosen Skills in My Career The skills mentioned and described in the previous section are of vital importance to my own career. As mentioned earlier fitness for an event manager is actually quite important and so far from what I have experienced in my own management trainee program, this assertion hold true for my own career. Marriot International has hotels and other business properties in numerous countries and I may get posted to any place at the end of my training program hence acquiring language skills will be a make-or-break factor in my progress. Because I work for a very large organization, before an event is organized I would have to work alongside many different departments like the finance department and the executive branch to facilitate the coordination for the project, hence I need collaborative planning skills. My company deals mainly with hotels and catering services hence any organizational skills that I need would be in relation to these two industries. What it means is that I have to be able to organize every type of event that can be held in a world class hotel from multinational summits to internationally broadcast concerts. I have come to know during orientation of this training program that hotel event managers often stay awake for two or three days consecutively before the day of a major event as they leave important homework for the end of the deadline and struggle to make arrangements near the of the available time. Hence time management is especially relevant to my vocation. PR skills will be beneficial for me right from the start of this training program to the end of my last assignment for the company and in a large organization like Marriot International, there is always room for reaching out to people of ever greater authority. d. SWOT Analysis Strengths Persuasive style of discourse, Good academic background Weaknesses Low self-confidence, Negative thinking inclination, Less experience than peers Opportunities Learning in training, prestigious company Threats English-proficient peers, Location of post-training posting, Health e. Personal Assessment As shown, I have only two major strengths currently that I can use to advance my cause of progressing up the stairs of my career as a manager. One of the strengths identified is my style of discourse which I had worked hard after the completion of my undergraduate studies during job hunting. Many people have since told me that it is a skill that I possess. In an earlier section I identified communication skills as one of the six most important requirements of any corporate manager. English is a second-language for me so if I can improve my proficiency in it, that combined with my clarity and persuasiveness of discourse will help me in not only directing my subordinates but also in building a reputation with my seniors in the corporation. In the SWOT analysis I identified a lack of self-confidence as one of my personality traits. I need to work on this if I am to improve my Personal Relations in the organization which I described earlier as the most important factor for progress for a unidirectional careerist. f. Review Overall I think that my style of supervision will need to be more assertive. This is very relevant to the post of a manager because in getting things done and done on time, manipulation of human capital is perhaps the most essential skill. And as evident from my personality traits and professional tendencies currently I do not have the attitude effectively direct an operation that depends on control and supervision of workers. Similarly, I am faced with competition from fellow trainees who have often more experience than me and have worked in this industry before and hence already have some contacts with Marriot employees. In this regard I can only gain experience through performing and learning and this course is a great opportunity for that, however I do have some useful conversational skills and if I can improve my proficiency in the local language of where I am located as well as the official language of the corporation which is English, I will certainly be able to manage events better by dealing communicating effectively with juniors and other professionals, and it will also help me build good relations with peers and other employees of my organization. g. Future Development Objectives 1. Acquire the Certified in Exhibition Management (CEM) certification from the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) by February 2015. 2. Achieve an A grade in the Learning Targets of this training program – April 2014. 3. Attend a 3-month English learning course (online if necessary) between June and December 2014. 4. Get into my organization’s Headquarter Committee of Junior Managers by May 2015. h. Personal Development Plan I think that the most important developmental objective of any professional should be seeking a certification that is specific to his or her vocation from a reputed worldwide organization. And that is exactly what I intend to do by pursuing the certification in Exhibition Management. I would devote time to acquiring the skills required to pass the test for this certification even it costs me my job because I have chosen Event Management as my field and I will also have some valuable experience and make a few contacts so I could find another job if I get fired from this one. Hence I shall be studying the requirements and working to qualify as a Certified Exhibition Manager after my return from my first foreign assignment in early 2015. Of course my performance in this training program is important. For now I am concentrating on nothing else and hope to achieve the best grade possible in the performance evaluation, especially as most of my peers have an experience advantage over me. I am unaware of what my posting location will be after the completion of this program. Hence I would only start an English proficiency course once I have been posted to my target destination in a month or two after training. English courses are offered all around the world and if I can pursue one online I will take that option; of course I might drop this objective if my work is too tedious. The most important objective in the earlier part of my career is getting into the prestigious Headquarter Committee of Junior Managers of Marriot International. However I have listed it as number four because I will be a Junior Manager for at least five years after completion of this program and I can work to improve my standing before I vie for a spot on the committee. For now I do not know too much about criteria for selection but I do know I will have to improve my PR and hence I will in the near future after training be hosting a get-together dinner for fellow junior managers and senior staff. i. Conclusion It is a famous corporate axiom that “reading the culture of the organization is the key element in all types of leadership” (Smith 1988). And I think I have stressed on the principle of connecting with my organization’s staff enough to qualify my writing for adhering to this axiom. It is definitely the most important principle in progressing on a managerial position. However I have also learnt other requirements of success in doing this task like the importance of attitude in management positions. Overall I have come to relate these requirements to my current condition, learnt about the aspects that matter more for me specifically and what the design of my post as an event manager and the system of my organization requires of me, and also been able to identify the potential opportunities and career risks of my situation. References Heath, R. L. (1980). Corporate advocacy: An application of speech communication perspectives and skills—and more. Communication Education, 29(4), 370-377. Riley, M. (1996). Human resource management in the hospitality and tourism industry (No. Ed. 2). Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd.. Smith, P. B., & Peterson, M. F. (1988). Leadership, organizations and culture: An event management model. Sage Publications, Inc. Read More